Redwarmin This movie is the proof that the world is becoming a sick and dumb place

Teringer An Exercise In Nonsense

Freaktana A Major Disappointment

Kimball Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

ecogirlveghead The story of a Chinese-American family experiencing transition. The father retires, the three daughters make changes in their lives, and the entire family begins to discover their true selves and what truly matters - family and love.Some of the descriptions call this family bizarrely dysfunctional - but really there is nothing outlandish or extremely unusual going on. Just people finding their way.The dinner scenes made me wish I was there - so much yummy food prepared lovingly by a caring mother. People from large families that eat together in a traditional way might take it for granted. But those of us whose families never sat and ate together, long for that kind of togetherness (and home-cooked food).

tigerfish50 Ed is the patriarch of an Asian-American family, and after retiring from his job, he mopes about the house, periodically making ineffective attempts at suicide, which are depicted in a comedic manner. In between these episodes he watches home movies of his three daughters' childhoods, while his offspring embark on their lives. The oldest girl is planning her wedding to an Ivy League blue-blood, while the middle one is a medical student who becomes attracted to a soap actress researching the role of a doctor. The youngest is a high school student who responds to a schoolmate's romantic overtures by leaving dead rats in his mailbox. After Ed heads off to a Buddhist monastery to confront his issues, the daughters deal with the shallow arcs of their respective narratives . A few quirky ingredients are added to spice up their story-lines, but none amount to anything more than a few moments diversion from the director's wooden attempts to evoke a Zen sensibility with pseudo-minimalist techniques. By the time Ed returns, two of the daughters have hooked up with their prospects, and the third has disposed of her unsuitable suitor. The vibrant Asian-American culture deserves better than this self-consciously coy contribution.

David Landau You could say a film proves itself by whether you give it a second thought. Another proof is how the film plays on second viewing. "Red Doors" plays very well on first viewing and lodges itself in your memory. On second viewing, it inspires awe.This film does not give up its secrets in bursts of action or plot-twists. Its strengths are symphonic, and it builds to a conclusion that will remain in your thoughts for a long time afterward. I especially appreciate the way it leaves its audience; "Red Doors" honors its viewers without ever pandering to them.Everything about the film seems natural and easygoing until you see things that leave you wondering: How did they know? Ordinary things--the angle of a girl's hair, a home-video montage--grab you by the throat. The music craftily draws the viewer into the situations without ever drawing attention to itself. The performances, without obvious star-turns, have a cumulative impact that's just overwhelming. To see "Red Doors" is to form an attachment to it. To see it again is to immerse yourself and love it.

noralee "Red Doors" starts out looking like a re-tread of early Ang Lee movies, but quickly adds a charmingly unique cross-generational element as three sisters and their father are at crossroads in their lives from retirement to career and romantic choices to literally explosive teen rebellion.Each of the Chinese-American daughters has a relationship with a Caucasian, but inter-ethnic issues are less of a concern than human issues of self-realization, as the characters end up drawing strength from their cultural context as they deal with the pressures of being "the model minority." While the writing is stronger than the directing as there's some drag, particularly during the middle daughter's seemingly endless and petty travails, writer/director Georgia Lee makes the best use of actual home movies - her family's -- since "Capturing the Friedmans," for bringing memories to life. We are actually seeing her sister's, lively co-star Kathy Shao-Lin Lee's, childhood as the family members take turns digitizing home movies.As is usual in first timer's ethnic coming-of-age movies there's a bit of a stereotyped emphasis on art vs. commerce career choices and high school memories that are doubtless a filmmaker's autobiographical resonances. But each character is very much an individual, including having their own musical themes, from hip hop to mopey singer-songwriter tunes. The teen ager is an original spark plug of comic relief even as the family members' relationships aren't all resolved sit com style.I particularly liked how the acculturated oldest sister pushes the depressed dad (a marvelous Tzi Ma) to see a shrink but he wisely finds a more traditional healing process that's the opposite of talk therapy and a touching contrast to the similar emotional crisis in "About Schmidt." The title was explained in an off-hand remark at the end, a reference to the tradition of painting one's front doors red to bring good luck, and not all the audience caught the meaning, though we all appreciated the red doors pins that were distributed after the screening at the Tribeca Film Festival. It was also nice of the director to give up some of her allotment of tickets to people on the long line hoping to get in, which included many Chinese-American women from around the New York metropolitan area who had heard about the film through word of mouth.The potential audience may be confused by the time this film is generally released with "Saving Face" that is being distributed earlier, as they share a few plot points, including parental conflict and a lesbian daughter, but on its own it is a lovely, sweet film.